Once upon a time, in a gurukula, when Guruji lived, a man named Somadutta went to him and asked “What is the worth of human life?” Guruji smiled and instead gave him a shining stone and said “First go and find the worth of this stone.” Somadutta got puzzled with Guruji’s reply. But without saying anything he took the stone and was about to go when Guruji reminded him not to sell the stone in any case.

Somadutta, though bit surprised, took that stone and went to the market. First he went to an Orange seller and asked him about the worth of the stone. Orange seller replied “I will give a dozens of oranges and you give this stone to me.” Somadutta moved on and then went to a vegetable vendor and asked him the same question. The vendor exclaimed “Take a sack of potatoes and leave this shiny stone.” Somadutta still not satisfied with all these answers kept going on. Next he went to a goldsmith and showed him the stone. Goldsmith amazed by the shine of the stone said “Sell me this stone for Rupees 100,000”. Somadutta refused this offer. Goldsmith readily agreed to pay him 150,000. Finally, Somadutta said “My Guruji has asked me not to sell this stone to anyone.” Finally, Somadutta went to a diamond merchant and showed him the stone. When diamond merchant saw this beautiful, shining stone, he could not believe his eyes. Mesmerised by the beauty of stone, diamond merchant first laid down a red velvet cloth and then placed that Ruby stone on it and bowed before it. Finally, he asked Somadutta, “Where did you find this precious stone? Even after selling the whole world we can’t estimate the worth of this ruby stone. This is priceless and invaluable.”

Somadutta got puzzled with the variety of experience he just had with different people and went straight back to Guruji. He then narrated his story to Guruji and asked him, “What is the worth of human life?” Guruji replied, “Orange seller quoted 12 oranges, Vegetable vendor said one sack of potatoes, goldsmith valued the stone at 150,000 rupees and finally diamond merchant mentioned it as invaluable.” The same is true for human life. “Somadutta you are a gem”, said Guruji. But people around you will value you according to their status, knowledge and capacity. You should not worry too much, rather live to the fullest as we will find people who will realise the true worth of us.